The Round
10 brought three resultative games and three draws. The game between two
Chinese chess players and the finalists of the last year’s World Championship
Ruan Lufei and Yifan Hou finished in a draw. The Ukrainian chess player Kateryna
Lahno won the second game in a row by defeating a former world champion Antoanetta Stefanova. Alexandra Kosteniuk got a
promising position in the game with Elina Danielian, but in the complications
that followed missed the advantage and lost the game. Alisa Galliamova defeated
her compatriot Ekaterina Kovalevskaya.The games Muzychuk – Kosintseva Nadezhda and Koneru-Kosintseva Tatiana finished
in a draw. One round to go Hou Yifan is still leading in the tournament one point ahead of Kateryna
Lahno and Tatiana Kosintseva who share the second place. Tomorrow's round will start
at 13.00 Moscow
time and will be decisive.

Alisa Galliamova - Ekaterina Kovalevskaya

The opponents played Queen's Gambit (Tarrasch Defense) in this game. Black sacrificed a pawn after 9.dc-d4 10.ka4-b5 11.ab-ab and got a very good compensation. Further on White got back the pawn in order to finish the development and "release" the Rook on a6. In the equal knight endgame after the queens exchange Black made a decisive mistake on the move 40, remained without a pawn and thus lost the game.

Anna Muzychuk - Nadezhda Kosintseva

In this game the opponents played the Nimzowitsch Defense (line with 4.Qc2). Black exchanged the bishop on с3 and White got an advantage of two bishops. Further on White exchanged its black square bishop for a knight and weakened the pawn structure in the Black king's camp. Having taken advantage of this, White left their king in the center and started attacking the opponent's king, however, Black created the oncoming threats for the opponent's king. Anna Muzychuk sacrificed a piece but she did not manage to find anything more than a perpetual check.

Humpy Koneru - Tatiana Kosintseva

From the very first moves White avoided to play theoretical lines, having chosen the pieces set-up with d4, Nf3, e3, b3, Bb2 etc. Both opponents were playing rather accurately and in the middle game they got an equal position with a minimum advantage of White due to doubled pawns on the line "e". After the queens exchange there was an equal endgame, however, on the move 40 Black played an inaccuracy move 40...Ra2 instead of 40...Rb3, and after they had to play very precisely in order to achieve a drawish position and Tatiana Kosintseva managed to fulfil this task successfully.

Lufei Ruan - Yifan Hou

Two Chinese opponents played a Sicilian Defence (Paulsen Variation). Ruan Lufei was playing very originally and prevented the development of the pawn f7-f5 by the move 16.g4. On the move 26 White proposed the repetition of the position, but the World Champion continued the fight. Black blocked the king's side pawns and switched their attention to the king's side. White prevented the only breakthrough f5 and after that the game was drawn.

Alexandra Kosteniuk - Elina Danielian

They played Caro-Kann Defense (line 2.Кf3, 3.Кc3). Black were playing very actively and sacrificed exchange for a pawn. However, further on they managed to get it back after 28.Qf6, having faced the king's attack as an answer. After this White made a combination and got a rook with "b" pawn against knight and bishop. In the time-trouble the ex-World Champion was not playing in her best way and gave up two pawns. After the queens exchange they got the endgame with two pieces and two pawns against a rook that Black converted into the victory.

Antoaneta Stefanova - Kateryna Lahno

They developed the opening in a non-standard way. Kateryna Lahno, having defeated the World Champion in the previous round, was playing very confidently and took the initiative after the move 9...е5, and after the queens exchange temporarily sacrificed a pawn 12...е3. White started facing problems with the development of the bishop f1. Black brought their pieces into the game and set serious problems for their opponent. Ex-World Champion gave up an exchange but still did not manage to save the game.